PRECOCIOUS GIRL WAS A DARLING OF 1930S HOLLYWOOD

Those curls. Those dimples. That spunky, can-do spirit. Whether she was tap-dancing us out of our Depression worries during her 1930s heyday, or providing a welcome bolt of sunshine to the generations who caught her movies on TV, there were many reasons to love the adorable child star that Shirley Temple was. And even more reasons to admire the woman of substance she would become.

Shirley Temple Black — silver-screen icon turned diplomat and ambassador — died at her home in Woodside Monday night of undisclosed causes. She was 85.

Temple Black left a Hollywood legacy of more than 40 films, including “The Little Princess,” “Curly Top” and “Heidi,” most of them released before she turned 12. The dynamo in crinolines won an Academy Award at 7, inspired a line of collectible dolls and had a nonalcoholic drink named after her. In 1999, the American Film Institute included her on its list of the 50 Greatest Screen Legends.

She was probably the most famous, most loved child star in the history of movies. Shirley Temple Black was also rarest of Hollywood creatures — a child star who did not implode on her way to growing up.

“Shirley Temple Black had the greatest short career in movie history and then gracefully retired to, as we all know, the far less strenuous life of public service,” President Bill Clinton said during the 1998 Kennedy Centers Honors ceremony. “In fact, she has to be the only person who both saved an entire movie studio from failure and contributed to the fall of communism. From her childhood to the present day, Shirley has always been an ambassador for what is best about America.”

To appreciate the achievements of Temple Black’s long and fruitful adult life, you have to consider how easily things could have gone sour. And how early.

She was born on April 23, 1928, in Santa Monica. Mother Gertrude wanted her only daughter to be a professional dancer, so young Shirley began taking lessons by the time she turned 3. At 4 years old, the photogenic little girl began appearing in a series of one-reel shorts called “Baby Burlesks,” in which children played adult roles in parodies of grown-up films. In her autobiography, “Child Star,” Temple Black remembered that misbehaving “Baby Burlesks” stars were forced to sit in a windowless sound box where the only chair was a block of ice. “So far as I can tell,” Temple Black wrote, “the black box did no lasting damage to my psyche.”

So it began. Between her first big role (in 1934’s “Stand Up and Cheer”) and her last child-star appearance (“The Blue Bird” in 1940), Temple Black appeared in 21 films. She sang (“The Good Ship Lollipop,” “Animal Crackers in My Soup”) and she tap-danced, most memorably alongside the renowned Bill (Bojangles) Robinson.﻿

Escondido resident Gloria Thatcher DeMent tap-danced with Temple Black in 1935’s “The Littlest Rebel.” The scene lasted just a few minutes, but the impression has lasted a lifetime.

“Shirley had extraordinary talent,” DeMent, now 88, ﻿said on Tuesday. “She was just amazing in her ability to entertain. She related to all of us in such a friendly, darling way. She was a very gracious person, even as a child. I don’t think there will ever be another Shirley Temple.”